A division bench of Uttarakhand high court on Tuesday upheld the single bench’s judgment that justified the selection of some government primary schoolteachers, who had cleared the Uttarakhand Teacher Eligibility Test (UTET) and Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), said DK Joshi, counsel for the respondents in the case.
Petitioners in the case, Vinay Kumar and others, had filed a special appeal before the HC division bench comprising chief justice KM Joseph and justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, after the single bench of justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had ruled in favour of the primary teachers (Class 1 to 5) citing there was “apparently” no anomaly in the selection process.
Giving details of the case, Joshi said that in February 2016 the state government had started the process of appointing around 1,200 candidates, who had passed the UTET and CTET, as teachers in the government primary schools of Uttarakhand.
“However, candidates who had passed UTET challenged the appointment of candidates, who had passed CTET after 2012. The petitioners alleged that candidates who had obtained CTET certificates after 2012 were not eligible for appointment. They maintained the relaxation in the matter of CTET was till 2012 only,” he said.
Joshi said the petitioners pointed out that norms set by the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) didn’t allow the participation of the B Ed candidates in the CTET after January 1, 2012. “The petitioners challenged the appointments claiming that the candidates got the CTET certificates and managed to get appointed as teachers in violation of the norms,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Joshi said the petitioners pointed out that norms set by the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) didn’t allow the participation of the B Ed candidates in the CTET after January 1, 2012. “The petitioners challenged the appointments claiming that the candidates got the CTET certificates and managed to get appointed as teachers in violation of the norms,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Joshi said the division bench upheld the single bench’s judgment with “a slight modification”.
“In the para 23 of the earlier judgment, the line ‘apparently the contention of the petitioners is not correct’ has been vacated and rest of the order has not been disturbed,” he said.
Joshi said the basis of the Tuesday’s judgment was that the petitioners had not made party to those candidates whose appointments they were challenging. “The division bench said the appellants can go for a fresh writ petition and make CBSE and Uttarakhand Board of Secondary Education Ramnagar as parties,” he said.
MC Pandey, counsel for the state government in the case, said the petitioners filed a special appeal before the HC division bench after the single bench dismissed their petition in July 2016.
The single bench had earlier dismissed their petition on the ground that the NCTE had extended the relaxation for B Ed candidates of Uttarakhand in connection with their eligibility for appointment as primary teachers, he said.